Buying a used Mercedes, opinions wanted.

In My Humble Opinion
1

So I’m looking at buying a 1984 280 SL Euro convertible with a ragtop and hardtop. It has 100K miles and is priced at $8,000. I haven’t had an in-person look at it, because it’s a couple of 100 miles away.

But I have some questions for Mercedes owners, particularly those who have owned Mercedes from a similar year or convertibles.

  1. Should I be concerned about an average Mercedes with 100,000 miles on it?

  2. So the hardtops fit well? I use my current convertible partly to keep mileage off my pickup. So I figure the hardtop would increase my convertible usage in early spring/late summer.

Anything else I should know about Mercedes of this year, their convertibles or ??

Whistlepig, who has a little voice in the back of his head repeating, “Nobody ever got laid because they were driving a 20 year old Chrysler Lebaron convertible with a big dent in the side.”

2

Never owned one, but from what I’ve read, you should make sure the owner kept up with the scheduled maintenance. Replacement parts can be hideously expensive. Some parts maybe difficult, if not impossible, to find.

3

If the engine received regular maintenance, 100K on a Benz is broken in-high mileage doesn’t have to equate to bad. IIRC, the 2.8L was an inline 6-a basic powerplant that MB used for many thousands of cars.

If it’s a factory hardtop-OK. The little experience I’ve had with aftermarket is that they just never fit correctly.

The price doesn’t sound bad, but I haven’t seen the car. A skim through similar cars in Hemmings Motor News classified found this car which is one year older, but has a replacement engine.

If you are going to maintain it yourself, then give it a look. Otherwise, it would be worth paying someone to evaluate the vehicle for you.

Good luck.

4

We’ve owned a couple over the years. My wife currently has a 03’ and loves it. We had a 85’ convertable and it was nice, it had 170k when we sold it, we got rid of it for 6500. They are great cars ONLY if they are kept up. And I mean that very literally, make sure the seller kept up with all the maintenance, including timing, and oil.